


Only An Android

by TimesBeingWhatTheyAre



Series: Where no man has gone before [10]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Character Study, Episode Tag, Episode: s03 e22 'The Most Toys', Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:55:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27500380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimesBeingWhatTheyAre/pseuds/TimesBeingWhatTheyAre
Summary: “Mr O’Brien said that the weapon was in a state of discharge,” Riker says, looking at Data closely.Data cocks his head slightly.“Perhaps something occurred during transport, Commander,” he replies, and walks away.
Relationships: Data & William Riker
Series: Where no man has gone before [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012116
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	Only An Android

**Author's Note:**

> ...what an episode

“Mr O’Brien said that the weapon was in a state of discharge,” Riker says, looking at Data closely.

Data cocks his head slightly.

“Perhaps something occurred during transport, Commander,” he replies, and walks away.

Riker stares after him, feeling oddly unsettled by the exchange. There’s just something...off about Data.

He turns to look at O’Brien, one of his eyebrows raised in an unasked question, and the officer shrugs slightly, an uncertain smile twisting across his lips. Maybe something had occurred during transport.

Or maybe Data had just lied to him.

* * *

Riker dismisses the incident from his mind, greeting Data (back in his yellow Starfleet outfit) with a smile the next time they pass one another.

After all, Data is an android. He has no reason to lie, and frequently states that he has no capability of it.

In fact, he would ignore it entirely, but then he hears that Data visited Fajo in his cell, and he’s curious, curious enough to watch the video recording from the ship’s cameras.

“You have lost everything you value,” Data says to Fajo, and his back is to the camera, but Riker can’t help but feel like there must be something on Data’s face, something visible that can explain the misgivings he has. There is no way to know.

“That must give you great pleasure,” Fajo sneers back, his face clearly visible in its arrogant glory, and Riker suppresses the urge that they have all had to simply punch the man in the face.

“No sir, it does not,” Data says, and Riker is pleased. That sounds more like the Data he knows.

And then he continues.

“I do not feel pleasure...I am only an android,” he states. It’s a matter of fact statement, one that Riker has heard many times before, but there’s just something in Data’s tone that worries him.

He sounds cold. He sounds almost vindictive.

Riker is used to Data sounding emotionless, or expressing a modicum of curiosity. He knows that Data can modulate his tone to sound more human, and Riker also knows that Data does such a thing automatically unless specifically controlling his voice otherwise.

What he is not used to is Data sounding like he has emotion; oh, Riker believes that Data has emotions, but also that they are buried deep down, perhaps muted, but inaccessible or unrecognisable to Data’s mind. 

He straightens up, stopping the replay of the recording, and wonders briefly if Data ought to talk to Deanna. If it was any other member of the crew who had suffered imprisonment, Riker would have ordered them to see the counsellor already, no matter that it had only been a day or so.

Nobody had thought to look over Data’s emotional health (no one else had seen the strange way Data was behaving when he first transported up).

He sighs, and turns off the screen. He has work to be doing, and Data isn’t a danger nor is he in danger. He is an android and doesn’t need counselling.

Riker strides out of the room, and pretends as though he thinks nothing happened.

He thinks maybe he’ll be able to convince himself.


End file.
